FAQ

Do you offer face-up/full-set ?

I do not offer face-up service/full-set. (I had a lot of request and if i accept one i don’t feel right to decline the others). It is really time consuming and I would have to do face-up/full-set my only activity, it’s really depressing for me. I tryed to fulfil this type of request in the past and it downhearted me. I Sometimes make full set dolls for special events but it’s rare, since it is stressfull and i don’t have the energy for it anymore. (If a fullset is not sold during the intended event it will be put in the shop). I prefer to focus this time and attention on other fulfilling projects 🙂

Face-Up artists:

Here are some face up artist who make amayzing makeup with distinctive styles (some of them already painted a napalm doll):

Eye maker:

When are dolls available ?

Pre-orders or restock for each BJD are made at least once a year, you can check this website or follow me on Instagram for earliest announcements.

What is a BJD ?

They are “ball-jointed dolls”, handmade art dolls made of polyurethane resin and have ball shaped joints that allow them to move naturally, almost as a human body would do. All the pieces are connected on the inside with elastic strings and S shaped hooks. They are fully customized, since the eyes, wigs and face painting are easily changeable, so every doll can be unique.

How BJD are made ?

Generally the artists sculpts an original doll with clay (paper clay, polymer clay, epoxy clay…) I personally use LaDoll. This is the hardest and longest part of the process! Once the original doll is finished, silicone molds are made for each piece. When the silicone is cured the original pieces are removed from it. Polyurethane resin is poured into the molds. When the resin has hardened, each piece is released from the mold. Then sanded to remove seamlines, receive quality controls and assembled to be packed. The dolls sold on BJD websites are all replicas made from the original clay doll.

Info about casting companies :

Here is a list of casting companies that i know , be aware that i did not work with them all. Be careful: Bad or good experience with a company can greatly vary from one person to another!

EUROPE

ASIA

 I want to to start making bjd, where to start?

First you can start to check out Blog about doll creations (if you can read french try “Materiel celeste”, there is a lot of infos from sculpting to casting with active users who will respond to specific questions if you need, there is generally a lot of collected resources on it. The fb group “BJD Sculptors (Ball Joint Dolls) “. For a quick start on basics the book “Yoshida Style Ball Jointed Doll Making Guide” by Ryo Yoshida. Merrydollround patreon is a great tool, really well explained with videos and all. Also I recommend you to watch @ybeedoll story highlight “tools and material”. Youtube have a lot of informations to, if you type “making a bjd”. I really love the youtube series “Sculpey 101 Class ” by Josh Foreman, it is really well explained , here you will learn the foundamental of the human form part by part (eyes, nose, lips, etc…) in 3D step by step!

What is a recast or contrefeit BJD ?

Recast or counterfeit dolls are cheap copies made by an unauthorized factory. None of the original and legit author/s of the original sculpt receives profit from the sale of recast dolls, only the unauthorized factory takes profit from the sale. Since they don’t have to pay for the months of work needed to make the prototype nor the years of apprentissage to develop a unique style and mastery, they make huge profit. Recaster make even more profit than the original artists since they have a so many different style of stolen dolls, so they sell even more and are able to marge down and steal more artist. A vicious circle. BJD are not mass produced, and can’t be, considering that bjd maker (like a majority of indie artist) don’t have the financial or time capacity to manage a big company or simply don’t want to be a huge company and just whant to live simply from their skilled passions. Bjd artists can’t produce huge number of dolls since they are generaly alone to manage all aspect of creation, promotion, website creation/management, customer service, preorder organizing with casting company, social media precence, conventions, etc… Contrary of recast company who are around 100 employe. Keep in mind taxes, the cost of life difference from a country like france to china (ex: min salary in france is 10,25 € in china is 3€) and that a sculptor like any art field is a highly qualified work and should be payed more than minimum wage. Since bjd batches are usually very small, the production and purchase of recast damages severely the sculptor mental health, salary and motivation to make new sculpts.